


A Royal Adventure

by ssamandiriel



Category: DRAMAtical Murder - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Tangled AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-01
Updated: 2015-02-01
Packaged: 2018-03-10 00:54:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3270719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssamandiriel/pseuds/ssamandiriel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the kingdom's most wanted thieves, Mizuki and Noiz, hideout in a tower in the forest, they're taken hostage by two stark white twins, Aoba and Sei. Aoba strikes a deal with the two thieves; they'll get their stolen crowns back if they take Aoba and Sei into the kingdom on their birthday. The two thieves accept, and the four set off on a journey like no other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Royal Adventure

**Author's Note:**

> lmao in the summary a put "a journey like no other." but thats a lie considering the fact i based this off a movie
> 
> anyways! ive been writing this for the past few days so i hope you all like it. this all started bc i was in the mood to watch Tangled and then like the day after we went to Disney and I got to meet Rapunzel lmao so the idea just popped in my head and i was like oh shit thats so good
> 
> enjoy!

On a warm spring afternoon in April, the queen of the kingdom of Platinum gave birth to a pair of two healthy twin boys. Now, keeping in mind the pair of boys were born very healthy, there was still two things that could be seen... 'wrong' about them. The first thing that brought the most attention was the fact that the two were attached to each other. From the very tips of their hair, they were connected. The queen and king immediately had a special palace doctor take a look at the newborn twins and found something incredibly unique about the hair; there was nerves inside of it, starting from where the hair was connected and ending at each of the boy's scalps. The doctor concluded that cutting the hair might result in severe pain for both of the boys, and might even result in death in one, or even both, of them. The other problem that the doctors concluded didn't really need immediate attention, was the fact that the twins were born without color. Neither of the boys had the pink or red hair of their mother and father, nor did they have their mother's tan skin or their father's fair skin. The king and queen weren't all that surprised by these facts, it wasn't the most common thing in the kingdom, but it has happened a few times before, and those children were still alive to this day, so they didn't worry about it. 

Word traveled fast around the kingdom in the few hours of their birth, and many of the villagers began talking about how much money these strange looking twins could catch, much to the queen's worry. The king set out to make sure every guard was in their assigned post and moved a few in front of the king and queen's room, to insure maximum protection for the twins. 

On the night of the twins birth, they were put to bed in a crib made just for them by the woodworker in the village. The crib was set a few feet away from the king and queen's own bed. They closed the two doors that led out onto the balcony and settled in for a good night's rest. 

A few hours after the king and queen fell asleep, the twins were awoken by the opening of the doors to the balcony. 

One of the twins begin to cry, while the other just stares at the two bodies walking towards them. Before they can stop the twin that's crying, the king and queen wake up from their peaceful slumber. The two intruders grab the twins and jump off the balcony. 

“Stop!” The queen yells. 

“Guards!” The king shouts. 

The two intruders run into the thick woods behind the castle, disappearing from the kingdom and the guards, never to be seen again. 

~  
The twins grew up with their captors, not realizing they were stolen away from their parents by these men. 

The two men, who the twins believed were also twins, and instantly latched onto them, were huge, at least in the young twins eyes. At barely six years of age, the twins were short and scrawny and believed everything to be bigger than it really was. Which is why when the first time the two men brought their huge pets up to the tower the twins called home, Aoba screamed and tried to run up to his room, forgetting his connection to Sei in his scared state. On the topic of names, the captors gave the twins their names when they were four, and taught them to read and write, and how to spell their new names. Back to the captor's pets, the man with the red hair, Trip as he told the twins, leaves his huge lion at the bottom of the tower, to ward off anyone that might find their way to the tower hidden in the forest. While Virus, the man with the blond hair and green glasses, brings his snake up with him; it's shiny black body wrapped around Virus' own. Sei lets out a yelp as Aoba tugs at his hair, trying to get Sei to follow him upstairs. Sei tugs back, trying to bring Aoba to the small corner of the room with him. 

Before either of the two can get very far, Virus steps closer to Sei, scooping him up in his arms and instantly gets the child to calm down. Sei tries his best to ignore the snake staring intently at him. Trip, on the other hand, gets stuck with trying to soothe the blue haired twin, with little progress. Aoba kicks and screams in his arms. 

“No! Let me go! I don't wanna get eaten!” Aoba yells. 

Trip snorts and Virus sighs. “Aoba-san.” Virus calls. Aoba looks up at him and Virus smiles. “You're not going to get eaten. Hersha and Berta are here to protect you. Okay? Besides, they do not eat humans anyways.” 

Aoba nods. “Okay.” 

Trip and Virus set the twins down and they both sit down on the floor, obediently waiting to see if Trip and Virus brought them any gifts from the outside world. Trip pulls out a box, almost the same size as the bag resting on his hip that he pulled it from and handed it to the twins. They immediately opened it and both gasped at the contents of the box. Paints, crayons, pencils, and paper were stuffed into the box, along with a few stray sweets. Aoba smiled and grabbed a lollipop, unwrapping it and sticking it in his mouth. 

Virus sighs and looks to Trip. “I told you not to give them sugary things anymore.” 

Trip shrugs. “They'll be fine.”  
Sei pulls a sheet of paper from the box and a few crayons, and starts on drawing. While Aoba's busy with eating the candy and Sei's busy with coloring, Trip and Virus say their goodbyes, and slip down the makeshift rope ladder, disappearing back into the thick forest. 

~

This routine goes on for a few more years of the twin's life, and by the time they're seventeen, Aoba starts to get a little antsy with staying in the tower and waiting for Trip and Virus to visit. 

“What if we go down there for just a few seconds, right? They won't even know!” 

“No, brother.” Sei rejects simply, trying to focus on his paintings. He's busy painting the walls now, having used up all the paper that Trip brought to them. He's hanging upside down on one of the bars that Trip installed to help hold their now seventy feet worth of hair up so it wasn’t always dragging around on the floor, painting a beautiful floral pattern across the wall. Aoba wonders how the blood hasn't rushed to his head yet. 

Aoba pouts. “You're no fun.”

Sei sits up on the wooden bar and looks over at Aoba. “Come paint with me.” 

Aoba thinks about it for a second before sighing. “Yeah, sure. I have nothing better to do.” He grabs some paint and a brush, climbing up the stairs and moves up to a part of the wall that isn't already covered in paint. “What should I paint?” 

“Whatever you feel like.” Sei says, beginning to paint two stark white figures connected by their hair.

Aoba snorts. “Is that us?”

“Yes.” Sei barely answers, too lost in his painting. 

Aoba groans and hangs off the staircase, waiting for Trip and Virus to return. 

~

In another part of the kingdom, just outside of the forest, two men are scaling the walls of the castle, looking for the room holding the precious items they're looking for. 

One of the men, with burgundy hair and seafoam green eyes, and tattoos of the same color sketched across his face and neck, motions for the other man, the blond one with lime green eyes, and piercings in every spot he could find room, to look down in the glass roof they were standing on. Below them was a heavily guarded room. In the center of the room was the crowns of the two lost princes, one gold with blue jewels, and the other black, with iridescent jewels. 

The burgundy haired man smiles and claps his hands together. 

“We found them Noiz. We're gonna be rich!” 

“We'll be arrested if you don't keep your voice down.” 

“Right, sorry.” 

“Just get in there, snatch the crowns, and get out. Got it?” 

He salutes. “Yes, sir!” 

The blond man ties a rope around him and holds the other side of it as he slowly lowers the other man down into the room. 

One of the guard sneezes and the burgundy haired man clicks his tongue. “Bless you. You know, if you have a cold, you shouldn't be here, right? Might get the other guards sick.” 

The guard shakes his head. “I must be on duty at all times, no matter what.” The guard blinks. “Wait-.”

“Sorry, no can do. I'm on a tight schedule. See ya!” He grabs the crowns and stuffs them into his bag, tugging on the rope to signal he's ready to be pulled up. He waves to the guards. “Bye!” 

He unties the rope and drops it, laughing as he runs away, his blond partner following after him. 

“Ha, I fooled them, Noiz! You should've seen the looks on their faces!”

“Just run, Mizuki!” Noiz yells and grabs Mizuki by the collar of his white shirt, making the red vest he's wearing shift around. 

“Hey, be careful! I just stole this, it's brand new! And watch out for you green shirt, too. That was not easy to come by! Neither were our pants, now that I think about it.” He plucks the fabric of his black pants and looks to Noiz's matching ones. “Maybe-.” 

“Shit!” Noiz yells before Mizuki can finish his sentence. 

“What? What is it, I was talk- oh.” The two come to a halt when they see one of the palace horses staring at them. It's black body and blue-ish mane do not look like something the two thieves want to deal with at the moment. The horse lets out a snort and Noiz grabs Mizuki by the wrist and runs off deeper into the forest, trying to get away from the horse. 

~

Aoba perks up when he hears Trip and Virus start to climb up the rope ladder. He meets them at the opening of the tower and smiles. 

“Aoba-san.” Virus greets. “Good afternoon.” 

“Uh-huh, hi. So! Since you guys are here, I wanted to ask you both something.” 

“Yes? What is it?” 

“Well, since our eighteenth birthday is coming up,” he motions between him and Sei, “I was wondering if maybe, we could get out of the tower for a day and see what there is to see? Like, okay, I know there's probably a lot to see, but maybe we could just go where you guys usually go to?” 

Virus tenses and Trip raises an eyebrow. “Why?” He asks simply. 

“U-um, well, we've been up here for our whole life, you know? Not that I don't appreciate it!” He says quickly. “But, I just, want to get out of the tower for once.” 

Virus regains his composure and looks over at Sei. “What are you thoughts on this, Sei-san?” 

Sei stops his painting, he was in the middle of drawing another flower, and looks over at Virus. “I would like to get out of the tower, but I could settle for more paints as a present instead.” 

Aoba groans. “Sei! You're not helping!” 

Sei shrugs and resumes painting on blue petals to the previously painted flower stem. 

Trip looks at Virus and smirks. 

“Aoba?” Trip asks. “Do you remember why we keep the two of you up here?” 

“No.” Aoba admits quietly. 

“Well,” Virus takes over, “It's because of all of the evils out there. Bugs, wild animals, thieves, thugs, all of those things are out there, just waiting to sink their teeth into you.”

If Aoba had color in his face, he knows it would be draining at just the thought of what's outside. 

“You and Sei-san are also very special.” Virus continues. “No children have ever been born together like the two of you were. There's scary men out there, waiting to get there hands on you. You would fetch a high price if someone were to sell you. It's not everyday you find stark white twins attached by the hair.” 

Aoba gulps. “P-people want to sell us?” 

Virus nods sadly while Trip tries to hide his smirk. “Unfortunately, yes. That's why we keep you here. Understand?” 

“Yes, Virus.” 

“Now,” Virus smiles, “can you think of anything else you might want for your birthday?” 

“More paint?” Aoba asks. 

“Both of you want paint? That will be a long trip for us to get the materials to make it, three days at the least. Are you sure you'll be okay here?” 

Aoba smiles. “We know we're safe as long as we stay in here.” 

“Good boy. We'll be back in three days times. Goodbye.” 

“Bye!” Aoba calls. Sei waves. 

Aoba stands at the edge of the opening of the tower and watches them leave. 

“Are you sure you're okay with this, Aoba?” Sei asks. 

Aoba shrugs. “It sucks, but I understand.” 

Sei smiles. “Come help me finish this flower.”

~  
The two thieves run further into forest, coming across a huge tower. Mizuki slaps Noiz on the shoulder. 

“Noiz, look at that! We can hide from the guards!” 

“How do you expect us to climb a fucking tower?” 

Mizuki shrugs. “Let's go check it out.” 

They walk the short distance to the tall tower and Mizuki inspects it, coming across a fraying rope ladder. 

“We can climb this.” Mizuki suggests. 

“You first.” Noiz says, eying the ripped ladder up and down. 

Mizuki sighs. “Fine, but if I fall you're paying for my broken ass.” He grabs onto the sides of the makeshift ladder and hooks his foot onto one of the ropes tied across the sides. He tests his weight on it before beginning to climb up the rest of the way. 

After a few minutes Mizuki reaches the top and gives a thumbs up to Noiz. Noiz glares at him. Mizuki smiles and climbs into the opening of the tower and almost instantly Noiz hears a loud bang and a squeal. He quickly climbs up the ladder and into the opening to check on his partner before his world is plunged into darkness. 

~

“Aoba.” 

“I know.” 

“Aoba-.”

“Sei! I know!” 

“We're going to get in so much trouble. They're going to wake up a-and they're going to kidnap and sell us and-.”

“Sei, quit it! It's not even our fault. If Trip and Virus didn't leave the damn rope ladder down there we wouldn't be in this mess!” 

Sei starts to breathe shallowly. “Oh god, Aoba, I don't want to die.” 

“Nobody is going to die, Sei! Maybe this is a gift in disguise sent to us. Maybe we can get these guys to help us go see the outside!” 

“No, no way Aoba! Didn't Virus warn us about this? They might be hear to steal us and sell us!” 

One of the men, the one with burgundy hair and strange markings on his skin groans and starts to stir. Before Aoba can make an educated decision, he hits the intruder again with the slab of wood Sei uses to hold his paints. 

“Aoba!” 

“I'm sorry, I panicked!” 

The twins both turn when they hear Trip and Virus at the bottom of the rope ladder. 

“Aoba-san, Sei-san, we're back, we need to give you something!” 

Sei's eyes widen. “Oh no, Aoba!”

“We have to hide them, quick!” Each of the twins grabs one of them men and tries their best to stuff them in their shared closet. After a few failed attempts, they finally managed to get them to stay, and Sei quickly braces a chair against the handles. 

Aoba lets out a shaky sigh as soon as Trip and Virus make it up the tower. 

“Aoba-san, you seem shaken. Are you alright?” 

Aoba nods. “Y-yeah, I'm fine.” 

One of the doors to the closet shifts slightly and Sei jumps, quickly bracing his hands against the door, trying to appear as casual as he can. Trip stares at him but doesn't say anything. 

“Anyways,” Virus starts, “We've brought enough food that should last both of you the three days that we will be gone.” He sets a bag down of fruits and vegetables, and various nuts and seeds. Trip puts down a large jug of water on the closest counter. 

They both walk back to the opening of the tower and wave to the two twins before descending down the ladder. Aoba watches to make sure they're far enough away before removing the chair from the closet handles. He jumps back when the two men fall forward. 

“Sei, grab me another chair.” 

Sei quickly grabs the nearest chair and sets it down next to the first one. 

“Okay, now this next step is going to be a littler harder. I need your help to pick them up and put them in the chairs, and then we're going to tie them to the chairs with our hair. Sound like a plan?”

Sei shrugs but doesn't argue. The two twins work for a few minutes at picking the two men up and plopping them down on the chairs. They quickly tie their hair around the men and step back. Sei goes to try and wake one of them up when a hand on his arm stops him. 

“Aoba?” 

“Wait, Sei. Look at that.” He points to a satchel and quickly picks it up, surveying the inside contents. He pulls out two crowns before starring at them for a second. He looks up at Sei. Sei shrugs. Aoba plucks them both from the bag and hands a blue and gold one to him, while taking the black and iridescent one for himself. He sticks his arm through it, frowning when it hangs off his arm. 

“Maybe like this?” Sei suggests, and places the blue and gold crown on his own head. Aoba wrinkles his nose. 

“Maybe, but those colors don't suit you. Try this one.” He hands Sei the other crown and takes the one Sei is holding. 

They both place the crowns on their heads and they turn to look at each other, both letting out little gaps at the way the crows look on each other. 

“It's- it's like it was made for you.” Sei whispers. 

Aoba smiles before taking the crown off his head. “It's nice to think about, but I doubt it.” He places the crown back in the bag and Sei sighs. 

“Yeah, you're right.” He hands the crown he was wearing to Aoba. 

Aoba suddenly perks up. “Wait! Those men had this bag right? What if we blackmail them into helping us see the outside. 

Sei frowns. “No, Aoba. Virus and Trip will get mad at us if we leave. We could get hurt if we go out there.” 

“Not if we use them as body guards!” 

“Aoba-” Sei is cut off by the sound of the men starting to stir and groan. 

“Quick! Hide the bag!” Aoba whispers. Sei darts off and hides both the bag and himself behind the staircase. 

Aoba stands in front of the two men and stares them down until they fully wake up. 

“Whoa.” The burgundy haired man says when he takes in the sight of Aoba. 

The blond man pays no attention to Aoba, instead he tries to break free from his bonds. The other man looks down at himself. 

“Is this hair?” 

“Who are you two and how did you find our tower?” Aoba asks sternly, with only a slight waver to his voice. 

“We're- wait, our?” 

Aoba's eyes widen. “Ah, no! Mine, my tower! How did you find my tower!” 

“No,” The burgundy haired man says. “I distinctly heard 'our', right Noiz?” He looks to the blond man. 

“I'm not paying attention to your conversation. I just want to get out of this boy's hair, Mizuki.” 

“Literally.” Mizuki snorts. Noiz rolls his eyes. “Okay, anyways, you said our and I can clearly see another trail of hair over there.” Mizuki cocks his head over towards the staircase. 

“N-no that's just where my hair ends.”  
“See, now, I would believe that if you weren't getting all defensive earlier.” 

Sei sighs. “They're not falling for it, Aoba.” 

“Sei, no-” 

Sei steps out from behind the staircase, but thankfully he leaves the satchel with the crowns behind, and moves to stand in front of the two men and next to his brother. 

“Whoa.” Mizuki says again. “Twins.” 

“You've got to see both of us, now answer my question. How did you find our tower?” 

“It was an accident, really. We were being chased by a horse and some guards, Noiz over here manhandled me,” Noiz glares at him, “and he dragged me behind some vines, and viola! We found your tower and figured it would be the best hiding spot.” Mizuki looks around. “Speaking of, have you seen a leather satchel anywhere around? It’s kind of important.” 

“And what if I have?” 

“Then you should tell us where it is so we can grab it and get out of your hair. Literally.” Mizuki says again. Noiz sighs. “Then we can all live out our own lives and forget any of this happened.” 

“No.” Aoba says simply. 

“No?” 

“No. I'm willing to cut a deal with you though. If you take me and my brother outside and let us walk around the village and the castle, then, and only when we've been satisfied with the view, you can have your precious satchel back.” 

“Mm, no can do, angel. Me and Noiz don't really have all that great of a reputation down there. You're gonna need to find someone else to take you outside.” 

“Then you're not going to get your satchel back.” 

Mizuki sighs and looks over at Noiz. Noiz shakes his head. “You got us into this mess, you can get us out of it.” 

“Okay, fine! We'll take you there, but you have to promise to give us back the satchel.”  
“I swear on it.” 

Mizuki narrows his eyes brows. 

“I don't lie like you two.”

Mizuki lets out an angry huff. “Okay, I get it. Now lets us out of this.” 

Aoba and Sei quickly pull off their hair wrapped around the two men and step back to let them stand up. 

“Great, let's go!” Aoba starts to climb down the rope ladder and Sei frowns as he watches their hair start to slide down with Aoba, leaving Sei no choice but to follow. 

“What's the matter, doe eyes? Afraid of the outside world?” Mizuki asks as he takes in Sei's worried face. Sei nods slowly. “Well, you should be! Who knows what terrors await out there? Why, your brother may not even be safe and he's barely out the door! In my opinion you both should just stay and-.” Before he can finish his sentence Sei is running to the opening of the tower and looking over the edge. 

“Aoba!” 

Aoba looks up at him from his spot on the very last rung of the rope ladder. “What?” 

“Are you alright? Mizuki said you might not be safe!” 

“Ah, I'm fine! Don't listen to him!” Aoba looks down at the ground willing himself to touch his bare foot to the soft green grass. “Sei! Come down here with me so we can do this together!” 

“Wait! Shouldn't you guys put on some clothes, you're both a little... ah,”

“Naked.” Noiz finishes for him. 

Sei tilts his head. “What does that mean?” 

Mizuki's eyes widen. “Noiz, oh my god. I think I need a minute.”

Noiz sighs. Mizuki wasn't exaggerating, the two twins weren't wearing any clothes, but for some reason, which Noiz and Mizuki were both glad about, neither of the twin's private parts were noticeable. Noiz guesses it might have something to do with the genetic mutation of their skin color. Still not wanting to bring two technically naked twins into the village where their wanted posters were posted all around, Noiz looks around the room and spots black curtains and white and blue sheets Noiz assumes the twins use to sleep with. He grabs them all and pulls out his dagger from the pocket on his pants, and quickly gets to cutting. 

“Noiz, what are you-?” 

Noiz ignores Mizuki and turns to Sei. “Do you have any safety pins?” 

“Y-yeah, over here.” He pulls open a drawer and hands a small, tin box to Noiz. 

“Thanks.” He puts all the pins in the spots he wants and holds up the four new garments he made. 

Aoba climbs back up the ladder and sighs. “What is taking you so long- whoa.” 

Sei is trying on the white long sleeve shirt and black pants Noiz had made for him and Noiz turns to look at Aoba. 

“Here.” 

Aoba walks towards him and gently grabs the garments from Noiz's grasp. “Oh, thank you.” Noiz nods. Aoba pulls on a shirt and a pair of pants identical to Sei's except his shirt was blue. 

“Wha- Noiz I didn't know you could do that! I wouldn't have stole these clothes if I had known!” 

Noiz shrugs. “You've never asked.” 

Aoba walks over to Sei and fixes his shirt so it's facing the right way. Sei smiles. 

Mizuki almost gags at the affection of the two twins. “Are you two ready to go now?” 

Aoba looks over at him and raises a white eyebrow. “Weren’t you the one that was telling us they didn't want to take us? Now you're trying to rush us out? Make up your mind.” 

Noiz snorts. Mizuki groans. “Whatever. Just hurry up, I'll be down there.” He walks over to the opening of the tower and quickly climbs down the rope ladder and waits at the bottom. Noiz waves and makes his way to follow Mizuki. 

Aoba looks at Sei and they both take a deep breath before grabbing up their hair and walking towards the opening of the tower. They both look over the edge. Sei gulps loudly. 

“Y-you go first.” 

Aoba nods. “Alright.” After having just done this a few minutes before, Aoba can understand why Sei is nervous about this. After all, Aoba was too scared to touch his feet down on the grass. He climbs over the edge of the tower and hooks one of his feet on the rungs of the rope ladder. He begins to climb down, and almost makes it to the bottom until his hair wraps around his foot, causing him to slip off of the ladder, a scream bubbling from his throat. 

“Aoba!” Sei yells. 

Before his body has the chance to crumble to the ground however, Aoba is caught in someone's arms. He looks up and white meets piercing green. 

“N-Noiz...”

“Be more careful.” Noiz says simply but sternly, and sets Aoba on his feet. 

“R-right.” 

“Aoba! Are you okay?” Sei yells from the tower. 

Aoba smiles. “I'm fine!” 

“Hey, what about you, princess? You coming down?” Mizuki calls up from his spot next to Noiz and Aoba. 

“G-give me a minute.” Sei says, wobbling a little on his feet, still shaken up by his brother falling and just the thought of leaving the tower in general. 

“Come on, Sei! The grass is harmless.” Aoba says, a bit muffled. Noiz looks over to see Aoba laying face down in the grass, moving his arms and legs back and forth. 

Sei pats his face lightly and takes a deep breath before climbing over the edge and carefully setting one of his feet on the top rungs of the ladder.

“You can do it!” Aoba calls, his position in the grass having changed to a sitting one. 

After a few minutes of endearment from both Aoba and Mizuki, Sei makes it down to the bottom rung of the ladder. He touches his feet down to the grass after a moment of hesitation and instantly runs to his brother, causing Aoba to fall over and let out a loud “Oof!” when Sei wraps his arms around him. 

Sei scrunches his face up and wiggles his toes. “It feels weird, Aoba.” 

“Your feet are probably ticklish.” Aoba smirks, a plan forming in his head. “Hey, Sei?” 

“Hmm- ah! Aha, Aoba! S-stop!” Sei squeals as Aoba forces Sei to lean back in the grass as he tickles his feet, his sides, anything he can reach. 

Mizuki smiles at Sei's red flushed face, and Noiz just hopes Aoba won't do that to him next.

Aoba stops his attack on Sei's sides and looks back up at Mizuki and Noiz. 

“You done?” Mizuki asks. 

Aoba nods. “I'm done.” He stands up and holds out his hand for Sei to take. Sei reluctantly grabs onto it and Aoba pulls him up off the ground. The weight of what they both are doing hits them at the same time and they look at each other. They exchange a series of facial expressions before both of them pile up their sides of their hair and gather it in their arms before they turn to look at Mizuki and Noiz. 

Mizuki raises an eyebrow. “Did you two just have a conversation with just your eyes?” 

“We're twins. We're on the same brainwave, I guess.” 

“Right-” Mizuki's cut off by the loud growling of Aoba's stomach. Aoba's face flushes. “Oh! Are you hungry? I know of the perfect place!”

“Really?” Aoba perks up. “Where is it?” 

“Just out of the forest! Come on, follow me!” Mizuki starts to walk through the forest and Noiz quickly catches up with him. 

“Mizuki, you're not thinking about taking them to Oval Tower, are you?” 

Mizuki smirks. “Don't worry about it.” 

Aoba smiles at Sei. “We won't have to eat the stupid seeds Trip always gets for us now.”  
Sei frowns. “That's mean, Aoba. They don't have to bring us food, you know.” 

Aoba shrugs and follows after Mizuki and Noiz. Sei starts to trail behind them. 

~

Once the four of them make it out of the forest, Aoba's eyes widen at the small building that's sitting just outside of the forest, just like Mizuki said. The building wasn't anywhere near the size of their tower, but Aoba was still impressed with how wide it was. The outside was made of wood and glass windows, and at the entrance stood a sign saying Oval Tower.

“It's not shaped like an oval though...” Aoba mutters. Noiz snorts. 

“Well!” Mizuki says, turning to look at the twins. “Here we are! Now, I must warn you, if you can't handle the men in here, you won't be able to handle the outside world, and we might just have to go back to your tower and forget any of this happened. Let's go!” 

Aoba looked to Sei and Sei shrugged. They both followed after Mizuki and Noiz, who were both already inside the building. The restaurant, if you could call it that, really, goes quiet when Aoba and Sei walk in. Aoba can feel a thousand stares boring into his back. Sei hides behind Aoba.

“Hey, princess!” Mizuki calls. Sei looks up at his nickname. “Look at this man's mustache! There's bl- princess there's blood in this man's mustache!”

One of the men comes up behind Mizuki and lightly taps him on the shoulder. “Is this you?” The man asks in a gruff voice, holding up a piece of paper that looked almost like a- wanted poster. Noiz's eyes widen. 

Mizuki grabs the paper with a loud gasp and Noiz knows he's going to make all of this worse. “What- seriously? Noiz! Noiz, where are you?” He spots Noiz in the crowd and Noiz groans inwardly. “Noiz, look at this! They couldn't even try to make my tattoos look good! It's a teardrop not a triangle!” 

“Mizuki, stop.” 

“Of course you have nothing to complain about, they always get your piercings right!” 

“Get the guards!” The man with the gruff voice yells and someone scrambles out of the building. 

All at once, everyone jumps up from their seats and runs towards the two thieves standing in the middle of the room. They men all fight over the thieves, yelling about who gets to keep them and turn them in to the palace guards for the reward money. 

“Sei, we have to do something! They're going to get killed!” Aoba panics. “Stop! Please, leave them alone!” Aoba yells. Sei helps him, trying to pull the men off of the two thieves, but only manages to get knocked over. Aoba thinks quickly and climbs on top of a table, dragging Sei up with him. Together, they both yell, “Stop!”. Everyone suddenly goes quiet and turns to stare at the two twins. 

“You have to stop.” Aoba says sternly even as his voices waver slightly, eyes shining with tears and when Noiz looks at him, he swears he sees gold. “Me and my brother have a dream and we were just about to have it fulfilled until everyone started ganging up on them. We need them to help us see the world, and we won't be able to if they're dead! Can't you just spare them and let us live our dream?” Aoba's eyes go back to their normal hazel color and Noiz shakes his head to clear it. Mizuki raises and eyebrow at him. The two men holding the two thieves suddenly drop them and Mizuki lets out a grunt as his body hits the hard, wooden floor with a loud thud. 

One of the men walks over to Aoba and Sei, holding out a hand. Aoba gingerly takes it and the man helps him jump off the table, followed by Sei. He motions for them to follow him and he is about to pull a lever when the door suddenly slams open. 

“I got the guards!” The man that left before shouts proudly before a group of men clad in golden armor run in, looking around. 

“Go!” The man mouths and pulls a lever, opening up a secret passageway underground. The man grabs Mizuki and Noiz before the guards can see them and throws them down the passageway before quickly shutting the door. 

The guards look at the man and hold up a piece of paper. “Have you seen these men?” The guard asks in a gravelly voice. 

The man shakes his head. “Nope, sorry.” 

The door bursts open for the second time within the past five minutes and a black palace horse walks in, sniffing the ground. The horse walks up to the counter with all of the levers on it and pushes down on the one to the secret passage way and the man freezes. 

“Move out of the way.” The guard orders and calls for his troop to follow him into the passageway. 

Trip and Virus had watched the whole thing go down from the window of the restaurant. When Trip had tried to go in and intervene, Virus put a hand in front of his chest. 

“Don't. We may be able to use this to our advantage. See those two?” He motions towards the two albino thieves the guards had caught before they got brought into the restaurant. 

Trip nods. 

“They look like a pair that would go for something like this, yes?” He holds up the leather satchel they had found in the tower when they went to visit Aoba and Sei. 

Trip smirks. “Yeah, they do.” 

“Good, I'm glad we're on the same page.” 

…

The two manage to find the way the secret door leads to, and aren't all that surprised when they see the two twin thieves emerging from the opening.

“Managed to escape the guards, did you?” Virus asks. 

Pink eyes glare at him. “What's it to you?” 

“Well, seeing as how you're thieves and all, I could get you arrested.” Knives are raised and Virus smiles. “Relax, I'm joking. We are actually here to offer you a deal.” 

“Well? Spit it out, then.” 

He holds up the satchel. “These. Do with them what you will.” He throws it at the pair and the one who has yet to speak catches it.

“Is there a catch to all this?” 

“Oh, no. But, I did have a bigger offer in mind that is worth more than a thousand of those, but since you seem so enraptured with just that, I think we'll take our leave.” 

The albino thief looks down at the satchel then back at Virus. “Wait! What's the offer?” 

Virus smirks. “Well...”

~  
Aoba falls to the guard, laughing and Noiz and Mizuki stare when Sei starts to join in. 

“Are we missing something?” Mizuki asks out loud. Nois shrugs. 

Aoba wipes the tears from the corners of his eyes and regains his composure, standing up from the ground. He brushes off his pants and looks up at Mizuki and Noiz and smiles. “S-sorry, don't worry about it.” 

“Wha- no, I want to know what's so funny!” 

“Mizuki, stop being a stubborn child. We need to move before the guards catch up to us.” 

Mizuki pouts. “Fine, but you're gonna tell me.” 

Aoab raises an eyebrow. “Oh, am I?” 

“Yeah, y- what was that?” Mizuki turns to look behind them before a group of guards starts to run after them. “Oh, shit! Run!” Mizuki grabs onto Sei and pulls him along, leaving Noiz to help Aoba carry his hair so they can run quicker. They manage to lose the guards until they come up to a dead end. 

“What're we gonna do?!” Aoba yells. 

“You hair.” Noiz says calmly, way too calmly in Aoba's opinion, “Use your hair to hook onto that over there.” He points to a hook hanging from one of the higher up pieces of wood. “You two have to go together so it can reach.” 

“But what about you?” Aoba asks sadly. 

“We'll figure something out.” 

“Yeah, 'we', thanks for worrying about me, Aoba.” Mizuki says. Aoba glares at him. 

“I'll worry for you.” Sei says with a smile. 

Mizuki beams. “Thanks, Sei.”

“Ugh, gross. Come on, Sei.”

The two twins stand at the very edge of the dead end and grab their hair before throwing it at the hooking, laughing when it hooks on. 

“Okay, on the count of three we jump, got it?” 

Sei nods.

“One.” Aoba starts. 

“Two.” Sei says. 

“Three!” Mizuki yells before pushing the two twins. The guards coming running from the opening in the large rock structure and Noiz looks around before he spots a small almost slide like, piece of wood running down the dam and Noiz grabs Mizuki and runs towards it. 

“You know I'm no good a surfing!” Mizuki cries as he wobbles down the slide, the water rushing past them. They reach the bottom where Sei and Aoba are struggling to get their hair unstuck from the hook. With the help of all four of them, it finally comes unstuck and they start running again. The horse from before comes running after the guards and starts kicking at the dam a few times before it suddenly comes crashing down, all of the water rushing out towards the four currently running. The water scoops them up and ends up knocking down a rocky pillar, trapping the four in a small, rocky room. 

“Oh no, oh god, we have to get out of here, we're going to suffocate, or drown.” Aoba starts to breathe heavily and Noiz puts a comforting hand on his back. 

Mizuki hugs Sei to his chest as the water level starts to rise slowly. 

A panicked silence waves over the four before Noiz sighs. “Wilhelm.” He says suddenly and everyone turns to look at him. 

“N-Noiz.” Mizuki's eyes widen. 

“No, it's fine. Someone else should know, right?” 

Aoba wipes his eyes. “What are you talking about?”

“That's my real name. Wilhelm.” He says again. 

Aoba gives him a watery smile. “That's cute. Sei and I have powers residing in my voice and in his eyes.” 

Noiz's eyebrows raise. “You what?” 

Aoba sniffles. “We were both born with powers of manipulation. Sei uses his eyes, I use my voice.” 

“Manipulation?” Mizuki's eyes light up. “So, like, you can make people do whatever you want?” 

Aoba shrugs. “I guess. That's what Trip and Virus told us at least. We've never really had the chance to try it ourselves.” 

“Well, if it's true, why don't you use it on us? You could say “find us a way out!”.” 

“But do we really need to use our powers for that? Can't we just ask you now?” 

“Well, yeah. But if you used your powers we wouldn't stop until we found a way out, right?” 

Aoba sighs. “It's worth a shot.” He turns to look at Noiz. “You okay with this?” 

“If it can get us out of here, yeah.” 

“Alright, here goes then.” He clears his throat and focuses on Noiz's face and Noiz's eyes widen when he watches Aoba's eyes go from their warm hazel to a harsh gold. 

“Noiz,” Aoba says, his voice deeper than before. “If you want to leave here alive, find us a way out of here before the water levels get too high.” 

Noiz nods and his eyes go glassy as he begins to look around the small, rocky room for an opening in the rocks.

Now, Sei had the harder part. He gently holds Mizuki's head in his white hands and locks eyes with him. He tries to communicate “find us a way out, if you want to live” like Aoba did, but only through eye contact. Sei knows it works when Mizuki's eyes go glassy as well and he dives under the water and begins searching like Noiz. 

Aoba can't break his focus like Sei does, so he can't say his praise to Sei, but Sei catches the small smile ghosting across his lips. 

Mizuki pops up from the rising water just enough to catch his breath, before quickly diving back in. 

Sei looks down at the water, which was rising up to his chest. “Aoba, I know you can't reply but I think we should move up higher.”

Just like Sei thought, Aoba doesn't reply, but he does begin to retreat father up the rocks. Sei follows him and watches Noiz pull away at some rocks. He pulls one away and daylight starts to shine through. 

“Aha, Noiz! You did it!” Sei laughs. “Mizuki!” Sei calls. Mizuki pops up from the water. “You can stop now.” Mizuki's eyes return to they're normal, bright seafoam and he shakes his head.

“Wow, that was a crazy experience.” 

Noiz pulls more rocks away and the water rushes towards the opening, bringing the four with the current. The four of them swim through the river the water opens up into, and pull themselves up onto the river bank, breathing heavily. 

“We made it out alive!” Aoba cheers, his eyes fading back to their normal hazel. 

Noiz shakes his head to clear it and he stares at Mizuki. “They have magical powers.” 

“Noiz.” Aoba calls. 

“Mizuki?” Sei asks. 

“What are we getting ourselves into?” Mizuki says. 

“Guys!” Both the twins yells, trying to get Mizuki and Noiz's attention. They both turn to look at them. 

“Can we please find somewhere to start a fire so we can dry off quicker? And then we can have a civil conversation about our 'magical powers'.” 

“Yeah.” Mizuki nods. “Yeah, sure. Sounds like a good idea.” 

The four of them walk together, all of them looking out for somewhere they can comfortably sit and start a fire. After about fifteen minutes of walking, they find a secluded area, with some tree stumps and logs. Sei and Aoba claim the long, log so they can sit close to each other, and Mizuki and Noiz sit on the two stumps in front of them. 

“So...” Mizuki trails. “How long have your eyes and voice possessed magical qualities?” 

Aoba shrugs. “For as long as we can remember?” He turns towards Sei, who nods. 

“Trip and Virus were the ones who told us about it in the first place. They said to try it on them, and when it didn't do anything to them, we thought they were just joking. B-but...” Sei stutters to a stop, and Aoba wraps a comforting arm around his shoulders.

“I'll take it from here.” He whispers. “When we were about... mm, fifteen, I think?”

Sei nods slowly. 

“Right, fifteen.” Aoba continues. “Someone managed to find our tower, like you guys. But back then I didn't know any better, and let him in. He started a conversation with us, well mostly me, Sei was too scared to say anything, and he hid behind me. But, things started progressing and the guy showed his true colors to us. Apparently, there were rumors around the village about twins living in a tower in the forest, and if you caught them, you would get a reward from the king and queen themselves. He took one look at our skin and hair, and knew it was us. He started grabbing at me, pulling my hair, trying to get me to go with him. I refused and pulled against him, and he ended up knocking me out with some weapon he had. Sei was scared and he suddenly remembered the powers Trip and Virus told us about. He locked eyes with the man and told him to leave our else he would be killed. Something went wrong and the man ended up convulsing and fell to the floor, never to be heard from again. Sei was devastated that he just inadvertently killed someone, but lucky it was the day Trip and Virus were supposed to visit, so they took care of the body.” Aoba takes in a deep breath. “So, yeah, that's the gist of it.” 

“Wow.” Mizuki breathes. “Noiz, can I speak to you for a moment?” 

“No.” Noiz says.

“Noiz, come on.” Mizuki whines. “I need help with gathering fire wood.” 

Noiz sighs. “Why didn't you say that in the first place?” 

The two of them get up off from their respective tree stumps and start walking away out of ear shot of Aoba and Sei. 

“Noiz, I think I'm in love.” 

Noiz picks up a stick, inspects it and hands it to Mizuki “I thought you wanted to collect fire wood, not talk about our feelings.” 

“Noiz, I'm serious!” Mizuki pulls Noiz to the side and looks around.

“They can't hear us over here.” Noiz says. 

“Just making sure. But, seriously Noiz, I think I might like Sei. Like, like like him. Not just 'I want to steal your money so I'll pretend I like you'.” 

“You're a horrible person.” 

“You're a thief too! You're no better.” 

Noiz shrugs. “I've never pretended to like someone just to steal their money.” 

“Okay, so I'm a horrible person! I get it. But, what should I do about my situation?” 

“I don't really see one. Unless you started liking him because he killed someone.” 

“No! I liked him before that but the cute, helpless look on his face when Aoba was telling us the story made me like him even more!” 

“Gross.” Noiz says. Mizuki frowns. “Whatever, just tell him you like him. This isn't middle school, Mizuki. Just ask him like an adult.” 

Mizuki snorts. “Funny, coming from the nineteen year old.” 

“Annoying, coming from the twenty-one year old.

Mizuki snorts, then smirks suddenly, and Noiz raises a pierced eyebrow. 

“What's with that look?” 

“You like Aoba right? We should confess together! It would be so cute, let's do it!” 

Noiz's face heats up and he looks away. “No way in hell.” 

Mizuki pouts. “Aw, come on, Noiz! It'll be fun!” 

“No. Hurry up and get some firewood.” Noiz dismisses, allowing no room for protest. 

Mizuki sighs. “Fine, whatever.” 

~

Aoba frowns. “I hope they don't think less of us because I told them that story.” 

Sei shrugs, clearly glum. 

“Now, that would be just terrible, wouldn't it?” A voice from behind them calls. Aoba and Sei's eyes widen. 

Someone steps out from the shadows and Aoba let's out a small gasp. “V-Virus? Trip? W-what're you doing here?” 

“We should be asking the same of you, shouldn't we, Aoba-san? Running away from your home isn't very nice. We were worried.” 

“We're sorry. But don't blame Sei for this! It was all my fault, I dragged him along with me.” 

“It's alright, Aoba-san. No one is to blame as long as you both return home with us. All of this will be put behind us.” 

“No.” Sei speaks up. He sits up and turns to look at Trip and Virus. “No, we're staying here. Virus, we both met someone, and think they might really like us. I'm not leaving them behind and ruining that.” 

Virus raises an eyebrow. “You're refusing? Fine, take this then.” Trip produces a leather satchel and Aoba immediately recognizes it as the bag holding the two crowns they tried on before. 

“How did you...?” 

“This is the real reason those two are here.” Virus cuts. “Don't let yourselves be fooled. They are thieves, though. That is what they do. We'll be looking forward to the day you two coming running home with tears steaming down your faces.” 

“We won't!” Aoba yells at the two figures retreating off into the forest.  
~

Virus and Trip walk back to the two awaiting albino twins. The one with a mole on the outer corner of his right eye glares at them.

“Well?” 

“Patience, Alpha. All good things come to those who wait.” 

Alpha snorts. “Whatever.” 

~

Noiz and Mizuki make it back to their makeshift hideout and Mizuki can instantly sense the gloomy mood over the two twins.

“Sei? Aoba? Are you two alright?” Mizuki asks and sets down his gathered sticks to sit down and put an arm around Sei. Sei pushes his face into his chest, not saying a word. Mizuki looks up at Aoba, who just shakes his head. 

Noiz sits down on the grass, leaning back against the tree stump. Aoba stands up from the log and walks over to Noiz before dropping down and leaning back against Noiz's chest. 

Mizuki doesn't get the chance to confess his feelings before the four of them end up falling asleep like that, wrapped in each others arms and listening to the slowly dimming fire. 

~

Mizuki wakes up from a peaceful dream filled with castles and money, when he feels something wet dripping onto his face. He opens his eyes and finds Sei still snuggled up to his chest. He looks up and sees the black palace horse from before. 

“Well, I sure hope you're here to apologize.” Mizuki says, before moving to lay back against the log. 

Sei, along with Aoba and Noiz, are all woken up by the sound of Mizuki screaming. 

Sei jumps up. “Mizuki?!” He looks around to find a horse trying to drag Mizuki away. Sei tries to pull Mizuki back, and grabs onto his arms. 

“Ow, princess! You're killing me! This isn't the way I wanted to go!” Mizuki's boot pops off and him and Sei are sent tumbling backwards. 

“Whoa!” Sei says, putting his arms in front of him, trying to get the horse to calm down. The horse looks around and spots Noiz staring up at him from the ground, and the horse snorts. “Wait, nice horse! Calm down, okay?” He goes to pet it and Mizuki makes a move to stop him, but Sei already has his hand on the horse's neck, petting it gently. “There we go, see? Nothing to be scared of.” 

The horse starts to relax, but immediately goes tense when Mizuki stands up. 

“It's alright.” Sei whispers. “You can't hurt them alright?” The horse looks like it's contemplating whether or not he should listen to Sei or step on Mizuki's head. “It's kind of our birthday today.” Sei adds, motioning towards Aoba. The horse settles down. 

Mizuki brushes off his clothes and looks over at Sei. “So, you two wanted to see the castle and the kingdom and all the nice stuff on your birthday, right? We should probably get moving.”

Aoba and Noiz stand up and Aoba carefully walks over to the horse. Something shines in the sun and he moves the horse's mane to find a collar with a name etched into it. 

“Ren.” Aoba says. The horse looks down at him. “That's a nice name.” 

“Hey, Ren?” Sei says. “Would it be alright if we rode you to the castle?” 

The horse seems to think on it for a few seconds before he leans down, allowing Aoba and Sei to reach his back. The twins both hop on and gather their hair in front of them and Ren stands back up. 

“To the kingdom!” Sei laughs, and Ren starts to walk in the direction of the castle. 

~

The bright and vibrant colors of the kingdom start to come into view and Aoba and Sei both let out a small gasp at the sight. Bright blues and golds along with pure shades of blacks and iridescent whites adorn every building in sight. There's flags with bundles of flowers painted on them hanging on strings strung across the roofs of the buildings, and Aoba tries to reach up and grab one. Sei laughs and grabs onto Aoba's arm when he almost falls off of Ren. 

Mizuki passes by a wall with a wanted poster on it. He sees his and Noiz's face on it and instantly rips it off the wall and stuffs it in his pocket before looking around to make sure no one saw him. 

Aoba jumps off of Ren's back, gently placing his feet down on the ground. He holds out a hand for Sei, and Aoba helps him down, too. They walk over to a small band playing music softly, and Aoba asks if they could play a little louder. The band complies, and the people in the small shopping center all turn to look at the pair. They smile and both set out to bring people to dance with. Aoba grabs a few people and he starts to twirl around with them, and after that, more and more people start to pour in, all of them dancing together. 

Mizuki is in line buying a few fruits for the group to eat later, and Noiz is hanging around Ren, watching the twins dance.

Aoba breaks away from the girl he was dancing with to reach out a hand to Noiz. Noiz shakes his head. 

“No way, Aoba.” 

Mizuki sets the bag of fruits next to Ren. “Watch these for us.” He asks before grabbing Noiz by the wrist. “Live a little!” He laughs. 

“Mind if I cut in?” Sei asks., looking up at Mizuki. 

“Of course not, princess.” He takes Sei by the hand and they disappear in the crowd. 

“Don't go too far!” Aoba yells, worried about their hair getting trampled on by the many people dancing around them. He turns back to Noiz. “May I have this dance?” 

Noiz sighs. “Fine.” He grabs Aoba's hand, who instantly spins him around, laughing. 

This goes on for about a few more minutes until the crowd starts to spread out, with everyone who was originally dancing, now all looking at the ground. Aoba looks down too, and he notices someone must have given Sei some paint, because he's now currently kneeling on the ground, drawing the same bundles of flowers he always does. But, instead of the plain shades he usually paints with, he has four small pots of blue, gold, black, and white; just like the colors of the kingdom. 

Aoba smiles and starts walking over towards him. “Mind if I help you?” 

Sei reaches for a different paintbrush and hands it to Aoba with a grin. “Of course not.” 

Together, the two twins fill the concrete groan with shining gold and iridescent white, along with black and blue flowers. After a while of painting, the people they were dancing with all joined in and started to paint what they wanted in the space that was left. Someone brought in other colors of paints, and soon the blank spaces that were left were filled with children's drawings of candy and toys, and some of the adults painted their kids or flowers like Aoba and Sei, or even themselves. But, one of the paintings that caught the twin's eye was the painting of them.  
The girl that painted them was the same one that Aoba was dancing with earlier and she smiled up at them when she noticed them staring. “It's a sign of thanks for bringing fun to our kingdom.” She looks down. “Every since the two princes were kidnapped...” She looks back up, smiling again. “But! Thanks to you two, we managed to forget our sorrows and join together in harmony and fun. So, thank you.” 

Aoba smiles. “You're very welcome.” He holds out his arms and the girl laughs, wrapping her arms around his midsection. She does the same with Sei, too. 

Mizuki walks up to them and Sei looks up at him. “Time to go?” He asks. Mizuki nods. The twins stand up and both wave to the girl, who waves back with a smile. 

“So, we're we going now?” Aoba asks. Mizuki and Noiz have been quiet for awhile, the last time one of them spoke was Mizuki telling them to climb on Ren. 

“It's a secret.” Mizuki says. 

“I don't like secrets.” Sei replies. 

Mizuki shrugs. “Oh well.” Sei huffs.

After about half an hour of walking, Mizuki and Noiz suddenly stop in front of a dock. 

“A boat?” Sei inquires. 

“Yep, very good, princess.” Mizuki praises sarcastically. 

Mizuki and Noiz help the two twins down off of Ren, and Mizuki sets down the rest of the fruits that he bought. All that was left was apples. The horse stares at him. 

“What?” Mizuki sighs, helping Sei climb into the boat. “I payed for them!” Ren begins to chew happily on the apples, and after all four of them are comfortable in the boat, he yells out, “Most of them!” Ren snorts at him. 

Mizuki turns back to Sei, who smiles at him. “You're terrible.” 

“Thanks, I try my best.” He claps his hands together. “So! I suppose you both are wondering what we're here for.” 

Sei nods. 

“Just a little bit.” Aoba says.  
“Well, every year, the king and queen launch a paper lantern with the kingdom's crest on it, hoping that the two lost princes will see it. We figured since you wanted to see everything the kingdom has to offer, we should shown you this too.” 

Sei beams. “That sounds wonderful.” 

Noiz frowns. “You two have never seen it before? From your tower?” 

Aoba shakes his head. “Trip and Virus put up blackout curtains so no one could see the lights coming from the tower and get curious about it.” 

“Oh, man, I figured this would just be a more up close version of seeing the lanterns, but you've never seen them at all before. I hope you'll like them, then.” Mizuki says.

Sei smiles before it quickly turns into a frown. “What if... what we do like it?” 

Mizuki tilts his head. “What do you mean?” 

“Well, if we like it, then our dream is fulfilled, right? We'll have seen everything there is to see. You two w-will leave and... a-and-.” He's cut off by an arm around his side. He looks up; Mizuki smiles at him. 

“Don't think like that. When you fulfill one dream, you just find another, right? You have an endless supply of them, when one is fulfilled, another one just fits snugly in it's place.” 

Sei smiles, “Yeah, you're right.” 

“Wow, Mizuki, that sure was deep.” Noiz deadpans. 

“Why, you little-!” 

“Look!” Aoba gasps, pointing up at the sky. 

The other three look up at where Aoba is pointing, and Mizuki smiles. “That's the king and queen's lantern. Watch, that one is the signal for everyone else to let go of theirs.” 

The dark, night sky begins to brighten up with the light of thousands of lanterns. Noiz watches as the light shines in Aoba's eyes and Mizuki pulls something from his bag. He taps on Noiz shoulder and hands one of them to him. 

“What-?”  
“Give it to Aoba.” Mizuki whispers. He taps on Sei's shoulder and watches from the corner of his eye as Noiz does the same. Sei turns to look at Mizuki and a grin almost splits his face when he sees the lantern in Mizuki's hands. 

“Is this...?”

“For you? Of course.” 

“Wait, Mizuki. We have something we want to give you.” Aoba says and reaches underneath himself and pulls out Mizuki's leather satchel.

Mizuki's eyebrows raise. “How did you...?”

“Ah, well, we hid it when we knocked you unconscious. We think that it's only right that we give it back to you guys.” 

Mizuki stares down at the bag, before pushing it away. “No, we don't need that anymore.” Aoba and Sei smile. Mizuki holds out the lantern again. “Here, take it before it burns my hand.” 

Sei giggles and gently takes it from Mizuki's hands, and hold it in his own. “Aoba, want to release them together?” 

Aoba nods and he moves to sit closer to Sei. “On the count of three. One...”

“Two...” Sei says. 

“Three!” The twins both yell, releasing the lanterns. Aoba laughs, and Sei has to hold him steady as he reaches out for one of the lanterns that was beginning to fall. He gently taps it back up in the air and smiles when it joins the rest in the sky. 

Mizuki smiles at the twin's antics, but a tap on his shoulder forces him to move his eyes away from the scene. 

“Noiz? What's wrong?” Mizuki asks, taking in the worried look on his face. Noiz points over to something in the distance and Mizuki's eyes widen. “Is that..? But how did they find us?”

“I don't know, but we need to get Aoba and Sei out of here.” 

“Yeah, you're right.” He turns to look back at the twins. “Sei, Aoba, there's something we need to do.”  
“Huh?” Sei looks at the serious look on Mizuki's face. “Oh, alright.” 

~

Mizuki rows their boat up to the bank and quickly steps out of it, Noiz follows. Mizuki stares at the satchel again, and he sighs. “W-we just need to take care of something, okay?” 

Sei smiles softly. “It's alright, Mizuki. We trust both of you.” 

The twins watch as Mizuki grabs the satchel and him and Noiz both walk off behind some think trees and vines. Sei hears Aoba sigh behind him. 

“It's alright, Aoba. You trust Noiz, don't you?”

“Of course I do. I just don't understand why they had to leave all of a sudden. It's fishy.” 

“I'm sure they won't betray us, not after all of this.” 

Aoba smiles. “Yeah, I guess you're right.” 

~

“Ah, hey guys! Long time no see, huh? Since you've been in jail, and what not. By the way, how did you get out, again? Because when I think of imprisonment, I think of, you know, being imprisoned.” 

The man sitting on a rock looks up at Mizuki, a glare slicing his features. An almost identical man walks up to him, his beauty mark on the right of his eye giving away who he is. 

“Alpha, great to see you!” Mizuki says. 

Alpha glares at him. “If you're not careful, your murder might end up being the reason we get put in jail again.” 

“Mm, no in between with you guys, huh? Well, have I got a peace treaty for you!” He holds up the bag holding the two crowns. He throws it down towards Beta, who just stares at them. “Two pristine crowns, curiosity of the lost princes.” Mizuki waves and begins to walk away, when a knife flying past his head stops him. “W-whoa where did you learn that trick?” 

Alpha ignores him. “We heard you've found something better than a pair of lousy crowns.” He walks over closer to the pair, kicking over a crown in the process. “We want the twins, instead.” 

Mizuki's eyes widen. Noiz lets out a small gasp.

“First we take care of you two, then we take the twins.” 

~  
Aoba's just starting to feel like Mizuki and Noiz abandoned him and Sei when two figures starts to walk up to the boat they're sitting in. 

Aoba perks up. “You had us worried! I-I was starting to think you two took the crowns and ran away.” 

The figures walk up closer and Sei lets out a small gasp. “They did.” One of them smirks. The other motions towards the water. 

Aoba and Sei look off to where he's pointing and tears well up in Sei's eyes. “N-no M-Mizuki promised...” 

“Noiz!” Aoba yells, trying to get his attention. “Noiz!” 

One of the men walks up behind Aoba, the smirk still evident on his face. “It's a fair trade, if you ask me. Two crowns, for the boys with the powers of manipulation. Beta, how much do you think someone would pay to have not one, but two ways to take control over someone?” 

Beta sneers at the twins and pulls out a length of rope and the twin's eyes widen. 

“No!” Sei cries. Aoba grabs him by the hand and they run up the rocky hill together. Their hair gets stuck on something sharp sticking up from the ground. The two of them try to get it untangled, but before they can, they hear their names being called. 

“Aoba-san! Sei-san!” 

The two twins walk back the way they ran from, and are met with the two men before, face down on the ground. Their eyes trail up and they see Trip with something in his hand, Aoba assumes that's why the men from before are on the ground. Virus runs up to the two boys and wraps an arm around each of them. Sei lets out a sob into his chest, Aoba just wraps an arm back around him. 

“Are you okay? Are either of you hurt?” Virus asks and Aoba tries to ignore the way his hand runs through their hair. 

“Virus... how did you-?”

“I was worried about you two.” Virus cuts. “So we followed you here.” He lets the two of them go and turns to start walking. “Come now, before those two wake up.” 

Aoba starts to walk but the absence of Sei next him makes him turn around. Sei stares out at the water and his shoulders fall and his body shudders. Tears well up in Aoba's eyes at the sight and he grabs Sei's hand in his. Sei turns to look at him and Aoba gives his hand a comforting squeeze. Virus light an oil lamp and the twins turn to look at him. He sighs and hands the lantern to Trip before holding out his arms. The two boys run up to him, before almost slamming into him. 

“You were right, Virus!” Aoba cries out, tears running down his face. 

“You were right about everything.” Sei sniffles. 

“I know, boys.” Virus says calmly, wrapping his arms around the twins. “I know.” He starts walking and begins to lead them back to the forest with their tower in it. 

~

A guard looks down at the dock when a boat slams into the side of the wall. Another guard runs over, letting out a gasp. 

“Is that...?” 

In the boat was the two thieves they've been trying to catch for years now. One was tied to a supporting beam in front of the ship's wheel, and the other was sat up on one of the benches in the boat. 

The one tied to the beam starts to come to. “The crowns... Sei...” His eyes widen. “Sei!” He pulls against the ropes. “Sei!” 

The one propped up on the bench startles awake and looks around. “Mizuki?” He rubs his head. “Where are we?” 

Guards start to pour in the boat and Mizuki panics. “Whoa, whoa whoa! Wait! Guys, you don't understand!” Four guards restrain Mizuki, while four more pull Noiz out of the boat. 

Mizuki pulls against the all of the guards' hands. “Sei!” He cries out. “Sei!” 

Ren, who was sitting on the dock over, looks over at the guards and realizes that it's Mizuki and Noiz they're pulling with them. He looks over the water, confused and scared as to where Aoba and Sei might be.

~  
Mizuki and Noiz get thrown into a cell and both of them hit the floor, the air getting knocked out of both of them. Mizuki groans and sits up, rubbing the back of his head. 

“Shit... now what are we gonna do?” His eyes widen. “Oh no, what of those twins got to Sei and Aoba. They could be getting tortured right now. Oh god, Noiz...”

Noiz puts a hand to Mizuki's back in comfort and Mizuki sighs. “I'm sure they're both fine. They're stronger than what you give them credit for. They can hold their own.” 

“Yeah, I guess you're right.” Mizuki says, even though he's not all that convinced. 

The door to their cell opens up suddenly and Mizuki and Noiz both stand up. 

“Let's get going.” One of the guards says. 

Mizuki steps back a little. “Where... where are we going?” 

The guard doesn't say anything, but the look on his face tells him all he needs to know. 

Noiz's eyes widen and Mizuki puts a hand up to his own throat. “Oh.” 

~

Virus takes the clothes that Noiz made for the twins and wadded them up into a ball and hands them to Trip, who walks off somewhere in the tower with them.

“There.” Virus says, standing up from Aoba's bed, where both of the twins were sitting. “It's like it never happened. Now, get washed up for dinner. We are making your favorite. And, we have some of those doughnuts you two like so much, for dessert.”

The twins don't answer or make a move to get up, they both just hang their heads. 

Virus sighs. “I really tried, Aoba-san, Sei-san. I tried to warn you about the dangers out there. The world is a cruel place, remember that.” He walks out of the room, leaving the twins to stew in their own sadness. 

Aoba lets out a sigh and falls back onto the bed, legs laying across Sei's lap. Aoba stares up at the ceiling for a few seconds before his eyebrows knit together. He tries to remember what the picture on the walls, the flags, and even the king and queen's lantern was. His eyes widen and he shoots up off the bed. “Sei, oh my god!” 

Sei startles. “Aoba?” 

Aoba points up at the ceiling. “Those flowers you've been drawing! They weren't just random bouquets of flowers! They were the flowers that make up the kingdom's crest!”

“What are you saying?” 

“We're the lost princes! 

Sei snorts out a sad laugh. “Aoba, I'm not really in the mood for jokes right now.” 

“I'm not joking! Remember when we tried on the crowns? They fit us perfectly! Didn't you get the feeling that they were made for us?”

Sei shakes his head and Aoba's face saddens. “B-but, Sei.” 

“I don't know what to think.” 

~

The guards drag Mizuki and Noiz down an unreasonably long hallway, making the two even more anxious for what was to come. 

Mizuki looks through all the cells they pass and his eyes widen when he sees a pair of familiar figures. Anger clouds his judgment and he uses all his strength to pull against the unsuspecting guards and runs up to the cell, grabbing one of the men by the collars. 

“Alpha!” Mizuki growls. “Tell me how you knew about them! Tell me!” 

“I-it wasn't us! It was those two blond guys, I swear!” 

“Blond guys... fuck!” The guards grab him again and he struggles even more. “Please, you don't understand! They're in trouble! Wait!” 

Noiz's eyes widen. “Mizuki? What's going on?” 

Mizuki goes limp and the guards pull him along. “They're in trouble...”

~

“Aoba-san? Sei-san? What's all that yelling up there?” Virus walks up the stairs. “Are you alright?” 

Aoba walks out of his and Sei's shared room and stands at the top of the stairs. Sei joins him and they both look like they've seen a ghost. 

“What is it?” Virus asks. 

“We're the lost princes.” Aoba says, barely above a whisper. 

Virus tilts his head to the side. “What was that?” 

“We're the lost princes.” The two say in unison. They walk closer to Virus. “Aren't we?” 

Virus lets out a laugh. “That's just ridiculous. Why would you two even ask such a question? The stress of everything must have finally gotten to you. Why don't you rest until dinner?” He tries to reach out to hug them, but Aoba pushes him away. 

“It was always you two! It was always both you and Trip.”

Virus' eyes close to small slits, showing his anger. “Everything we did was to protect you.” 

Aoba pushes past Virus and Sei follows him. “We spent our whole life,” Sei pipes up, “Hiding away from the people who would try to sell us for our unique looks and powers.” 

“When we should have been hiding from-” Aoba takes over. 

“You.” Sei finishes. 

Virus sneers. “Where will you go? Those two thieves won't be there for you.” 

Aoba and Sei stop in their tracks. 

“What did you do to them?” 

Virus gives them a smug look. “Those two criminals are set to be hung for their crimes.” 

Aoba and Sei gasp. “N-no.” 

“Now, now. It's alright.” Virus says, instantly going back to his nice nature from before. “This is how it should be, yes?” He goes to lay a hand on each of the twin's heads, but both of them grab him by his wrists. Virus' eyes widen.

“No.” Aoba glares. “You were wrong about the world.” 

“And you were wrong about us.” Sei says.

Virus struggles against the twin's hold. 

“And we will never let you use us again.” They say together. Virus rips his wrists from their hold and he ends up falling back into a mirror. It falls and the glass shatters to pieces. 

Aoba and Sei look back at him, their gazes not holding an ounce of sympathy for him. 

“They want me to be the bad guy?” Virus grinds out, when the twins start to climb out of the tower. “Fine, I'll be the bad guy.” 

~

As Mizuki and Noiz are being dragged down the long hallway, Mizuki notices a small, plastic duck sitting in between one of the crevices of the stone wall. He doesn't think much of it until all of the windows and door down the hallway are all suddenly slammed shut, throwing the room into sudden darkness. 

The guards look around the room in confusion. “What is going on?!” One of them yells. 

Mizuki and Noiz startle when one by one, the guards get pulled into the rooms on the side walls of the long hallway. The guard at the front turns back to look at the two and Mizuki just shrugs. The door at the end of the hallway opens up and one of the men from the restaurant from before comes running out, a frying pan in hand. He slams the pan into the guard's head, and Mizuki and Noiz watches as his body slumps to the floor. 

“He'll be fine.” The man says. He points towards the door. “Go through there. Hurry!” 

The two quickly run through the door the man came from and they run a bit farther until they reach they outside and come face to face with Ren. 

“Ren?” Mizuki asks. The horse snorts at him. “Did you get them to come here?” 

Ren holds his head high and Mizuki laughs. “Atta boy!” 

The two climb onto the horse and he instantly takes off, running off towards the forest with the twin's tower in it. 

~

Ren stops in front of the tower and Mizuki and Noiz jump off his back and run up closer to the tower. The rope ladder that hung from the opening to the tower was gone, and Mizuki groans when he notices. 

“Sei! Aoba!” Mizuki calls.

“Let down your hair!” Noiz tries. 

After a few moments of no reply, Mizuki starts to climb the tower, before long locks of white hair is thrown down the tower, creating a makeshift ladder for the two. 

Mizuki starts to climb up first and Noiz follows after him. After he reaches the top Mizuki smiles. “Sei, I thought I'd never see you again.” He looks around the room and his eyes widen when he sees Sei and Aoba tied together in the center of the room. 

Mizuki starts to walk up to them, and Sei and Aoba both start yelling, their eyes wide and filled with tears, but the cloth around their mouths stops them from getting any words out. 

“What is i-?” Before Mizuki can get the rest of his sentence out, Trip comes out from behind him, a knife in his hand. Too slow to react, Mizuki falls to the ground, clutching the spot of his abdomen Trip had just stabbed. Trip spots Noiz out of the corner of his eye and he smirks. 

“You're not getting out of this, either.” He grabs Noiz's arm and goes for his throat, but Noiz manages to dodge it. Virus appears from nowhere with his own knife, and drives it home into his stomach. Noiz collapses to the ground next to Mizuki and Aoba lets out a scream. 

Virus sighs and looks at the twins. “Now look what you two have done. But, don't worry, out little secret will die with them.” He walks behind the twins and unhooks something from the wall. That's when a chain comes into view and the twins tug against it, trying to pull it away from Virus' grip. “As for you two, we are going somewhere where no one will find you. Ever.” He tugs on the chain and the twins pull back, not relenting. “Really now, stop fighting me.” 

“No!” Aoba yells, the cloth tied around his mouth loose because of all the struggling. “We will not stop fighting against you for the rest of our lives!” 

“We will never stop trying to get away from you!” Sei cries. 

Aoba swallows, trying to calm himself down. “But, if you let us save them, we will go with you.” 

“We won't run, or try to escape.” Sei agrees. 

“But you have to let us heal them. Then we'll all be together.”

“No. No, Sei, Aoba!” Mizuki protests weakly. 

“Forever.” Sei goes on. “Just like you two want. Everything will go back to what it was.” 

“We promise.” Aoba says. “Just like you wanted.” 

“Please.” Sei begs. “Just... let us... heal them.” 

Virus raises his head, a venomous look on his features. He nods over at Trip, who immediately walks over to Mizuki and Noiz, tying the two up. “In case you two might get any ideas about following us.” Virus supplies. He lets go of the chain holding the two twins back and Aoba immediately runs to Noiz, and Sei runs to Mizuki. 

“Oh, I'm so sorry.” Sei cries into Mizukis outstretched hand. 

“Everything will be okay though.” Aoba says to Noiz. “I-I'm sure there's a way we can use our powers to save you.” 

“No, no, Aoba. Stop it.” Noiz says weakly. 

“You just have to trust me.” Sei says softly. 

“No...” Mizuki groans, trying to sit up. 

“We can't let you do this.” Noiz says, putting a hand over his wound. Mizuki nods. 

“Hey.” Sei smiles. “It's okay.” 

“B-but if you do this... you two will die.” 

“It's gonna be alright.” Aoba says. 

Mizuki looks over to Noiz, and he nods weakly. “Sei, wait.” 

“Aoba, just wait a second.” 

The twins look down at the two, questioning looks on their faces. Mizuki brings a hand up to Sei's face, brushing his stark white hair out of his face. Behind his back, he grabs the knife Trip used on him. He reaches behinds Sei and holds his hair in his cuffed hand and brings the knife up to Sei's hair, quickly slicing through it. 

Sei gasps and yells out, “Mizuki!” 

Before Aoba has the chance to react, Noiz grabs a shard of the mirror the twins broke earlier and reaches up the same as Mizuki, but not quite as high, the pain from his wound making it hard to move too much, and he slices through Aoba's hair just the same. Aoba reaches behind himself, panic evident on his face when he feels his now shorter hair.

“T-there...” Mizuki chokes out. “Now they won't be of value to you anymore, right?” 

Virus stares down wide eyed at the mass off white hair that was now starting to turn between a mix of black and blue. He gathers up the hair in his arms, trying to get it to stop turning. He lets out an angry growl and motions for Trip to follow him. He drops the pile of hair in his arms, and begins climbing down the tower. 

“Wait!” Aoba yells. “You... you can't just leave!” 

Trip smirks. “You don't hold an value anymore. Bye bye.” And with that, he follows Trip down the tower. 

Aoba lets out a frustrated sigh and turns back to Noiz. Noiz smiles. “Your hair is blue.” Aoba runs a hand through his hair. 

Aoba shakes his head. “T-that's not what's important right now! There has to be a way to save you!” 

“Your eyes are beautiful, Aoba.” Noiz continues. “They're hazel.” 

Tears fall from Aoba's eyes and onto Noiz's face. “N-Noiz, please...”

“You're beautiful, Aoba.” 

Aoba breaks at those words; he lets out a choked sob and presses his head to Noiz's neck. Noiz weakly puts a hand to Aoba's back, rubbing soothingly.

Sei takes his eyes off of Noiz and Aoba and looks down at Mizuki.

Mizuki smiles. “You jealous?” 

Sei darts his eyes away. “No, I just-.”

“Black.” Mizuki says. 

Sei looks back at him. “What?” 

“You hair is black. Your eyes, too. Remember when we saw the lanterns? Remember how the night sky looked while being lit up by them? That's what your eyes looks like. Dark, but still shining brightly.” 

Sei sniffles loudly, more tears welling up in his eyes. “Mizuki...” 

“Hey, Sei? You were my new dream.” 

Sei sobs. “You were mine, too.” 

Mizuki smiles brightly before his eyes close and his body slumps to the floor. Sei cries out and rests his head on Mizuki's chest, his shirt getting soaked with Sei's tears. 

“Sei, Sei!” Aoba calls. 

Sei wipes at his eyes and looks over at his brother. “W-what?” 

“We have to try and use our powers, it's the only way.” 

Sei looks over at Noiz, who was in a similar state as Mizuki. Sei shoots Aoba a sorrowful glance, Aoba just smiles. Sei nods. “Okay, we can try.” 

Sei turns back to Mizuki, and he works at trying to force Mizuki's eyelids open, so he can stare into Sei's eyes. Aoba's eyes turn golden as he begins talking to Noiz. 

Once Sei gets Mizuki's eyes to stay open, he stare into them, trying to communicate “please let your body heal your wounds, please wake up, please live.” with just his eyes.

After a few minutes of Sei staying completely still and Aoba talking nonstop to Noiz, a few pained groans start to fill the room. Mizuki is the first to wake up, and Sei laughs before pulling Mizuki in for a kiss. 

“ I love you.” Sei giggles. 

Mizuki presses a kiss to his cheek. “I love you, too.” 

Noiz wakes up after that and looks over at the scene of Mizuki and Sei, before looking up at Aoba. He puts a hand around the back of Aoba's neck and pulls him down for a sudden kiss. 

Aoba pulls back an sputters. “P-pervert!” 

Noiz grins. “Love you, Aoba.” 

Aoba sighs and smiles. “Love you, too.”

~  
~

“Queen Haruka! King Naine!” 

A guard barges into the king and queen's private bedroom, surprising the two occupants inside. The queen, reading a book at her chair, and the kind, standing on the balcony, looking over his kingdom, both look over at the guard. 

“What is it, captain?” The queen asks.

“I-it's-” The captain breathes out heavily. 

“Well, spit it out!” 

“The lost princes! They're here, sir! In the courtyard of the castle!” 

The queen jumps up from her chair and both her and the king run out of their shared room, running towards the entrance of the castle. They make it down the stairs, the queen holding up her dress so she doesn't trip. They stop at the large doors that leads out into the courtyard. 

“Do you think they'll recognize us?” The queen asks. “What if they don't love us anymore?” 

“We will still accept them all the same.” The king answers. 

The queen smiles. They both put a hand on the doors and push open together, revealing their two sons, and two other men the king and queen don't quite recognize. The four men all turn when they hear the sound of the doors opening. 

The queen is the first to make a move; she walks down the steps towards the group and she timidly reaches a hand out to her two boys. They walk closer to her and she brushes their hair out of their faces. Sei and Aoba smile. Tears well up in her eyes and she grabs the two of them into a hug. The twins wrap their arms around their mother and they let tears fall down their faces. The king finally takes a step forward and Aoba holds a hand out. He wraps his own arms around his sons and the four of them sink to the ground, all of them hugging and sniffling. 

Mizuki and Noiz watch the display affectionately and the queen notices. She smiles up at them and holds out a hand. Mizuki holds out his own hand, thinking that all she wants his a handshake, but she catches him off guard, pulling him into the hug pile. She looks up expectantly at Noiz, who just sighs and squeezes in where he can fit. 

“It's great to have you two back with us.” The queen says. 

Aoba and Sei smile. 

“It's great to be back.” 

~

After that, the king and the queen gathered all of the citizens of the kingdom and told them all to meet in front of the castle for some important news. 

The king and queen stand on the balcony, smiling down at their subjects. They both wave, and the crowd cheers. 

The king clears his throat and begins to speak; the crowd goes silent, hanging on his every word. “Now, as all of you know, eighteen years ago, something precious was taken from us. Our two beautiful twin boys, your princes. But, today I have some great news. They have made their way back to us!” The king and queen hold out their arms and back up, letting Aoba and Sei walk out, greeting their subjects. They wave and the crowd breaks out into an uproarious applause. They hear shouts of “welcome back!” and “welcome home!” and happy tears start to form in their eyes. 

“Now,” The queen starts, “We have something else we still need to do.” She turns. “Boys?” 

Mizuki and Noiz walk out, each holding a velvet pillow with a crown placed on top of it. Mizuki goes over to stand next to Sei, and Noiz moves over to Aoba. 

“If you will.” The queen prompts

Mizuki and Noiz both nod. Mizuki goes first, gently picking up the iridescent white and pure black crown from the pillow, and places it on top of Sei's head. The crowd cheers. Noiz goes next, picking up Aoba's golden and blue crown, and places it atop Aoba's head. The crowd cheers for him as well. 

The king steps up then, and smiles. “Thank you, everyone. We all appreciate you coming here, but now, we have some catching up to do.” He waves, and all of their subjects wave back, some even bow. 

The king, queen, two princes, and their boyfriends, all walk back into the castle. 

Aoba smiles. “That was fun.” 

“Good to here.” The king says. “Because you'll have to do that a lot, whenever important things come up.” 

“I think we can handle it.” Aoba says, nudging Sei. Sei smiles. 

“Yeah, we can.” 

~

After spending a few more hours together, touring the castle, finding their new rooms, and finding hidden passageways, Aoba and Sei find something they've never had the privilege of seeing; a mirror, as silly as that sounded. Trip and Virus refused to let them get one, so the only way they saw what they looked like was because of the shiny pots and pans they had, or if the other described what they looked like to the other.

At the very back of the castle, there was a very hidden room, Sei just barely noticed it. It was dusty, like the king and queen had forgotten about it. The two were ready to leave, seeing nothing of important in there, but something catches Aoba's eyes.

“Sei, look!” Aoba says, running over to the mirror hidden in the corner of the room. He stood off to the side of it, afraid to see what he really looked like. He turns toward Sei. “You go first.” 

Sei nods and walks over to the mirror, hesitating before walking in front of it. He lets out a small gasp at the person that looks back at him in the mirror. He brings a hand up to his hair and brushes the short, dark locks back behind hid ear, smiling when it just falls back in front of his face. He pinches his cheeks and pulls at his ears. Aoba pushes him, and Sei giggles. 

“Wait your turn!” 

“You're taking too long!” Aoba laughs. His laughing stops when he sees his reflection in the mirror. “Oh.” He says.

“See, now you know why I was taking so long.” 

Aoba nods slowly, not really paying attention to Sei's words. He stares at himself in the mirror. He pulls at the blue strands of his hair and wiggles his nose a little. He recognizes some of his features that he got from his parents, like his mother's tan skin, and her fuller figure. He had his father's nose, and his mother's eye shape. Sei had most of their father's features, from his lanky figure, to his fair skin tone, and to his mouth shape. 

Aoba smiles and pulls Sei to stand in the mirror with him. 

“That's us.” He states. 

Sei nods. “That's us.” He agrees. 

“Boys?” The queen calls. “Dinner is ready!” 

Aoba smirks at Sei, the mirror completely, forgotten, for now. “I'll race you.” 

Sei smiles. “You're on.”

**Author's Note:**

> i was actually thinking of making this a series with two other parts, one with Koujaku in it, and then another based on Tangled Ever After which is where they get married 
> 
> but idk let me know what you think and thanks for reading!


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